Ashli Babbitt’s family is suing the U.S. Capitol Police for more than $10 million for shooting and killing her during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“Right now, we have no accountability — zero accountability — they give no explanation to justify the shooting and they do not even identify the officer. That is what they do in autocratic countries, not in the United States,” Maryland attorney Terrell N. Roberts III told the Washington Times.
The 35-year-old Air Force veteran was shot with a round from an anonymous officer’s “service pistol” in the Capitol building after she attempted to climb through a broken glass door in the hallway near the Speaker’s Lobby. Babbitt received aid in the Capitol from a Capitol Police emergency response team before she was transported to the Washington Hospital Center where she later died.
The family plans to sue the law enforcement agency under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows for monetary compensation if “a personal injury or death, caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of a Government employee while acting within the scope of his or her office or employment, under circumstances where the United States, if a private person, would be liable in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.”
The unnamed officer who shot Babbitt but did not receive any charges will also be sued by the family, the Washington Times reported.
“The purpose of the case is to hold the police officer and the Capitol Police accountable for violating Ashli Babbitt’s constitutional right — that is the purpose,” Roberts said, noting that he is “reviewing video of the shooting that was captured by private citizens using their iPhones.”
Roberts also expressed frustration that legislators — including those that voted for the partisan, power-grab Jan. 6 Commission — have not demanded further information or answers from the law enforcement agency.
“If we call ourselves a free people, you would think that Congress would be the first to demand transparency of its own police agency but you don’t hear that,” Roberts explained.
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